In the Premiere Elements 13 Movie Menu customization area Preview, the Glass Flowers menu navigation button highlights appear and function properly, but they are missing in the playback of the DVD-VIDEO standard or widescreen on DVD disc to which they were applied.
ISSUE
The purpose of the Movie Menu customization area Preview is primarily to verify that the movie menu navigation buttons and their highlights are working properly before the burn to disc. And, in this case, the Preview is indicating they are working. But, after burn to and at playback, there are buttons but no button highlights.
So far the issue has been found to apply to Glass Flowers disc menu .psd files for standard and widescreen sets. The affected files are
glass flowers_s_mm.psd
glass flowers_s_sm.psd
glass flowers_w_mm.psd
glass flowers_w_sm.psd
These files can be found in Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 64 bit in the path
Local Disk C\Program Data\Adobe\13.0\Online\DVD Templates\All_Lang\General\(A) Glass Flowers
This situation leaves the user to select another movie menu theme without this issue or to explore the theme's .psd files for flaws in its general construction and highlight layers. This blog post will target the latter.
SOLUTION
Exploration of the theme's .psd files for cause and effect did not provide an obvious answer for Why. But replacement of the highlight layers in main menu .psd and scene menu .psd did produce a Glass Flowers disc menu with navigation button highlights that worked. Editing of these .psd files was done in Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Extended 64 bit.
Scene Selection Page Highlights
The Adobe highlight for each of the 4 scene buttons on the Scene Selection page uses a (= 1) highlight layer which has on it a large yellow frame which has underneath its bottom left a small yellow rectangle. See Figure 1.
 |
| Figure 1. Glass Flowers Disc Menu Scene Button Highlight. |
To correct the flawed highlight layer for this theme's Scene Selection Page, a shape layer with a yellow Hedera 2 shape is created and then a large yellow frame created in the shape layer. That shape layer is renamed to (=1) highlight and becomes the new highlight layer for the button, and the original (=1) highlight layer is deleted.
Scene Selection page highlighting for its main menu button, next arrow button, and previous arrow button uses only the small yellow rectangle. New highlight layer for each of these was derived from the new scene button highlight layer.
Main Menu Page Highlights
The Adobe highlight for each of its 6 buttons on the Main Menu page uses a (=1) highlight layer which has on it only the small yellow rectangle to the left of each button
Play Movie, Scene Selection, Bonus Feature, Main Menu, Previous Arrow, Next Arrow
To correct the flawed highlight layer for the Main Menu page part of the theme, a shape layer with a yellow Hedera 2 shape is created. The shape layer is renamed to (=1) highlight and becomes the new highlight layer for the button, and the original (=1) highlight layer is deleted.
Although the following HOW TO will produce a Glass Flowers menu with functional button highlights at playback of the DVD-VIDEO on DVD disc in which it is used, the question remains whether or not the following is worth the investment of time to make this Glass Flowers theme usable.
HOW TO
Starting With Replacing The Scene Selection Page Highlights.
(the most detailed part of the Solution)
STEP 1
In Photoshop, open the scene menu .psd named glass flowers_w_sm.psd. The major layer sets are (from bottom to top)...Refer to Figure 2
title
(+<) prev arrow
(+>) next arrow
(+^) main menu
(+) scene four
(+) scene three
(+) scene two
(+) scene one
foreground
background
 |
| Figure 2. Glass Flowers Scene Selection Page First Opened For Editing In Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Extended. |
Open the (+) scene one major layer set, find its highlight layer named (=1) highlight, and select it. Refer to Figure 3.
 |
| Figure 3. Glass Flowers Scene Selection Page PSD Layers Palette Focus On (+) Scene One Major Layer Set And First Highlight Layer To Be Replaced. |
Tip: Close the (^^) scene one text sublayer set in the (+) scene one major layer set so that all that is seen there in that major layer set are the three layers (=1) highlight, Frame 1, and (% video).
STEP 3
Set the Foreground color in the Color Picker to yellow (fcfc15). Zoom in (300%) on SCENE ONE on screen. Using the Custom Shape Tool, the Hedera 2 shape, and yellow color, create a shape layer directly above the original (=1) highlight layer. The Hedera 2 shape should be equivalent in size to the small yellow rectangle that is part of the original highlight for the SCENE ONE button.
The shape layer created is given the name of Shape 1 by the program. It will have two components - to the left is the Layer Thumbnail and to the right is the Vector mask thumbnail. Right click the Vector mask thumbnail, and select Rasterize Vector Mask.
Next, turn off the layer visibility for Shape 1, and then click on the original (=1) highlight layer to select it. With this layer selected, use the Eraser Tool to erase the small yellow rectangle that is part of the original highlight for SCENE ONE button.
Tip: For the next part of this procedure, a Zoom In of 400% is indicated.
Ctrl click the Layer thumbnail part of the original (=1) highlight layer in order to bring up marching ants around the yellow frame that is part of that original highlight layer. With the marching ants active, turn on the visibility of the Shape 1 layer created, and click on its Layer Mask Thumbnail to the right in the layer to select it. Use Alt+Backspace to place that frame on the shape layer to accompany the Hedera 2 shape as part of highlight. Deselect (Ctrl+D) the marching ants, and delete the original (=1) highlight layer. Now rename that newly created shape layer, from Shape 1 to (=1) highlight. SCENE ONE work is finished.
STEP 4
Open the (+) scene two layer set, find its highlight layer (=1) highlight as done for (+) scene one major layer set. Duplicate the (+) scene one newly created (=1) highlight layer and drag it upward so that it is placed immediately above (+) scene two's original (=1) highlight layer. Delete (+) scene two's original (=1) highlight layer. Select the Duplicate in the layers palette and then Ctrl+T. On screen, the duplicated highlight is super imposed over the original's new highlight layer. So separate the two as follows.
Focusing on screen and with Ctrl+T in effect, with the right arrow key move the duplicated highlight (frame plus Hedera 2 shape) that is seen on screen away from the SCENE ONE button location to SCENE TWO. Hit Enter key to commit when the Duplicate is in place for SCENE TWO.. See Figure 4.
 |
| Figure 4. Duplicated Scene One Highlight Moved To Correct Position For Use As Scene Two Highlight. |
For SCENE THREE the workflow is repeated using the Duplicate of the (+) scene one 's new (=1) highlight layer and dragging it upward into position above the original (=1) highlight of (+) scene three. For SCENE FOUR button, repeat using a Duplicate of the (+) scene one's new (=1) highlight layer and dragging it upward into position above the the original (=1) highlight of (+) scene four.
STEP 6
The highlight for each of the main menu, next arrow, and prev arrow buttons, is only the small yellow rectangle.
For MAIN MENU button new highlight
- Open (+^) main menu major layer set and find its (=1) highlight layer.
- Duplicate (+) scene one major layer set's newly created highlight layer and move that Duplicate upward so that it is immediately above the (+^) main menu major layer set's original (=1) highlight layer.
- Turn off the visibility icon for the for (+) scene one major layer set's highlight layer.
- Click on the Layer Mask thumbnail part of the Duplicate highlight in (+^) main menu major layer set, and then on screen use the Eraser Tool to erase the yellow frame from that Duplicate highlight layer.
- Delete the original (=1) highlight layer. Ctrl+T and then use an arrow key to move on screen the shape from the SCENE ONE area downward to the left of the text "Main Menu". When finished, hit Enter to commit for the Ctrl+T activity.
- Make sure to rename the newly created highlight layer as (=1) highlight.
For next arrow button highlight, use the Duplicate of the newly created highlight from (+^) main menu major layer set in steps
- Open (+>) next arrow major layer set and find its (=1) highlight layer.
- Duplicate (+^) main menu major layer set's newly created highlight layer and move that Duplicate upward so that is is immediately above the (+>) next arrow major layer set's original (=1) highlight layer.
- Click on the Layer Mask thumbnail part of the Duplicate highlight in (+>) next arrow major layer set,
- Delete (+>) the original (=1) highlight layer. Ctrl+T and then use an arrow key to move on screen the shape from the the Main Menu button area to just to the left of the next triangle shape.
Ending With Replacing The Main Menu Highlights.
STEP 1
In Photoshop, open the main menu .psd named glass flowers_w_mm.psd. The major layer sets are (from bottom to top)...Refer to Figure 5.
title
(+<) prev arrow
(+>) next arrow
(+^) main menu
(+) bonus
(++) scenes
(+-) play movie
foreground
background
 |
| Figure 5. Glass Flowers Main Menu First Opened For Editing In Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Extended. |
STEP 2
Open the (+-) play movie major layer set, find its highlight layer named (=1) highlight, and select it.
Tip: Close the (^^) sublayer set in the (+-) play movie major layer set so that all that is seen there in that major layer is the (=1) highlight layer.
STEP 3
Set the Foreground color in the Color Picker to yellow (fcfc15). Zoom in (300%) on on screen. Using the Custom Shape Tool, the Hedera 2 shape, and yellow color, create a shape layer directly above the original (=1) highlight layer. The Hedera 2 shape should be equivalent in size to the small yellow rectangle that is part of the original highlight for the PLAY MOVIE button. Delete the original (=1) highlight layer for the (+-) play movie major layer set.
STEP 4
Duplicate the newly created highlight layer for (+-) play movie, and open the (++) scenes major layer set. Drag the Duplicate upward to immediately above the original highlight layer for (++) scenes major layer set.
STEP 5
Click on the Vector mask thumbnail part of the new Shape layer to select it. Then Ctrl+T, followed by dragging the shape highlight on screen from MAIN MENU to the right where the yellow rectangle highlight is still seen. Position the new highlight to the left of SCENE SELECTION. Hit Enter to commit to the Ctrl+T activity, and then delete the original highlight layer there.
STEP 6
Using a Duplicate from (+-) play movie new highlight layer each time, repeat for (+) bonus, (+^) main menu, (+>) next arrow, and (+<) prev arrow.
WRAP UP
Make sure that the text in the .psd files are set to the correct language. Double check to assure that all the new highlight layers are each named (=1) highlight.
Rename the highlights replaced .psd files
In this case the widescreen set was used for the HOW TO run through, so
FROM
glass flowers_w_mm.psd
TO
XXglass flowers_w_mm.psd
and
FROM
glass flowers_w_sm.psd
TO
XXglass flowers_w_sm.psd
Place the XXglass flowers_w_mm.psd and XXglass flowers_w_sm.psd in a newly created folder named XXglass flowers. Then place the XXglass flowers folder in a newly created folder named My Special Themes in the path
Local Disk C\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 13\DVD Templates\Common\My Special Themes
Repeat all of the blog post details, starting with the standard set of .psd files is if the standard instead of the widescreen set of .psd files is needed. Then add the XXglass flowers_s_mm.psd and XXglass flowers_s_sm.psd to the XX glass flowers folder in the My Special Themes Folder in the path cited
Local Disk C\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 13\DVD Templates\Common\My Special Themes
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Work in progress, but blog post has been proof read several time and seems to be close to being finalized.
ATR
